


trinity

by sigrún (stumpy)



Series: A Million Times Before, and a Million Times Again [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Self indulgent OC development fic, Siblings, Triplets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-03 08:25:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13337259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stumpy/pseuds/sigr%C3%BAn
Summary: Three sisters, their Ghosts, and some dickhead they picked up from the Crucible (he thinks he’s cooler than he really is).B





	1. burn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auzz99](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auzz99/gifts).



The Guardian had been forged not in Light but in the hottest of fires. She woke to the Golden Gun already burning, to six dead bodies rapidly dissolving into ash. The little orange robot pleaded her to follow the river downstream, so she did. A day’s walk led her to a wall. She found her way inside.

Up on a high tower, she followed the little robot to the Vanguard. When she couldn’t give a name, the Ghost gave her one.

River. For the place she’d died and been reborn.

Clementine’s name came from a little breakfast place in the City that sometimes got genetically enhanced or previously extinct fruit. She’d taken one look at the tiny orange, and the exasperated Ghost never lived down the joke-turned-name. Yet somehow, she grew to love it as River had her own.

Years passed; the process of becoming a good Guardian was long and arduous. The Light came to her quick, though, and by the time Cayde-6 became a Vanguard, she was one of the top Hunters in terms of accuracy, speed, and bullheadedness.  
She met Sterling out in Russia, huddling under a structure to get out of the rain. River strolled in like she owned the place, a flash of heat turning her drenched clothes dry. They’d talked until dusk, feeling as if they’d known one another a long time ago.

Hale-2 was younger, clumsier, than most of her peers. She wielded a Sentinel’s shield, but the Exo seemed to trip over most of the things that came at her. Not at all good at what she did, or even confident enough to make up for it. River saw her at the shooting range, though; saw the practiced, methodical way she handled every gun there. A few compliments lead to a talk, and then to that same unshakeable bond that she’d found in Sterling.

Only when their oldest memories began to match up did any of them realize what they meant to each other. Three sisters, separated as young children; two adopted, one indoctrinated into the military as soon as she was legal, fighting and dying for the cause.

And now here they all were, fighting and dying for a bigger cause, but together this time.

* * *

  
River snuck out early in the morning, just as the sun began to rise above the horizon. The ship set her down right near the Cosmodrome, and from there it was a brief hike to her target. 

She leaped over a fallen tree, boots hitting the ground with a muted thump, trampling a few small weeds and an army of dead leaves. Her visor gave a constant feed of essential data: lifeforms, environmental details, mission objective. The cluttered feed showed a temperature that she liked to call “cold as Exo balls”.

It was a temperature that not even the Fallen were stupid enough to brave. The Taken just might, but a Fallen was by no means going to fight in that weather. Still, the snow drifting down felt more eerie than it had any right to. And there was this Light-forsaken itch in her blood; to write symphonies with the bang bang bang of her Golden Gun, to paint masterpieces with the resulting gore. The call of a Hunter, Cayde had always said; not verbatim but the same connotation. The call of a Hunter; to seek and stalk and destroy danger, to excise the festering wound of Darkness with fists and guns and knives and teeth.  
It had made sense. Cayde often surprised her with the amount of sense he could make.

The Darkness edged into her vision, wispy streaks that infected every bit of her world. Not quite enough Darkness to cripple her Ghost, but enough to really piss River off. She pulled chalk from a pocket and scratched the well-known Lost Sector symbol into the stone housing the cave. They could clear it out as many times as they’d like, but Guardians could never stop the sectors from attracting new monsters every day.

Today’s asshole of choice? Vex.

Five minutes of fighting saw a Minotaur left standing and a hole burnt through River’s chest, searing her heart, and as she fell she remembered:

_Pain. Confusion._

_Helplessness.  
_

_“Please, Guardian. Get up, I need you.”  
_

_It was so cold but so warm and closing her eyes again would be so easy and so good-  
_

_“Guardian!”  
_

_-and it would just be for a moment, really…  
_

_“GET UP!”_

River shot up, fingers clutching that flaming revolver just like the first time she’d been brought back, all brimstone and spitfire. Flames sang in her veins, a violent melody that ate her alive. Six shots fanned into the Minotaur’s chest, and it fell faster than the bullet shells. Satisfied, the itch went still, and the flames’ butterfly kisses faded out.

“You’re getting sloppy,” Clementine chirped, floating above her shoulder.  
River ground her teeth. “No one asked you.”

The Ghost fell silent.

Yin knew by the time they got to the Tower, so Sterling knew; the Warlock came tearing across the plaza and Clem was unsurprisingly absent. River gritted her teeth and folded her arms, wishing her helmet was still on so that she didn’t have to bare her humiliatingly open-book face.

“Clem said it got so Dark at the end that she almost couldn’t bring you back,” the taller woman snapped. “You went in and almost died.”

River rolled her eyes. “Yeah and I had a power nap instead. No harm, no foul.”

“You need to sort shit out. It’s like you want to die!”

The Hunter didn’t say anything, just stalked away to turn in her mission report. She didn’t, not really, but she grudgingly admitted her sister had a point: the strategy of working alone and almost dying for it was quickly becoming a bad idea.

River didn’t realize she’d turned in her report and headed for the dorms until she was at her door, at which point the gunslinger simply collapsed into bed in her gear.

Vague nightmares of drowning and shocking cold bled into blackness and into wakefulness, cool air filtering into the tiny apartment space from the small window. Stars dotted the sky, like crystals on velvet, and the moon sat fat and heavy amongst them, spinning silver strings of light across the City. The Traveller quietly lorded over all things, unobtrusive for a moon-like object nearly kissing the surface. River lit a cigarette, breathing the acrid smoke into the night air, her room getting hazy. With a lazy glance, her candles lit, popping merrily. 

* * *

  
The Crucible was a good way to keep sharp, so River played as often as possible. Her win rate hovered around sixty-five percent. Usually she’d sign up alone, but four of them showed together, surprising Shaxx. “Four today, Valikai?”

“Four,” she agreed. “Got one Hunter, two Warlocks, and a Titan.”

“Good luck,” he said, checking their weapons as they went past.

River trusted her sisters, Sterling and Hale, to have her back; the new girl, Aurora, was a wildcard, but Hale had vouched for her.

The ambushes that the other team had planned picked them off one by one; a tripwire for Hale, a sword for Sterling, and a throwing knife for Aurora. That left River, carefully picking off a Titan with her scout rifle before moving on to find the bigger group.

“Three remaining!” Shaxx announced into River’s helmet as she started to walk. “You are the last Guardian standing!”

Three of them, one of her; one Golden Gun, two bullets for each.

Easy.

They were in a pack. The gun burned and with two swift reports they were ashes and embers. The final one drew his Golden Gun. River didn’t hesitate.

_Draw!_

She fired one shot, then the other Hunter shot. It was then that River saw what was happening, and turned to run, but time moved so fast and-

The shot hit hers and exploded. River shouted in surprise, thrown back from the shockwave. Then came the second shot, a flaming slug bursting through the explosion that hit her square in the chest.

She woke moments later, and ripped off her helmet immediately, unable to stand her teammates and Shaxx all shouting about that play. River didn’t notice the hand until its owner cleared their throat; the victorious Hunter pulled her up to her feet, and she scrubbed at her face, trying to mask her disappointment. “Thank you. That was a great play.”

“You almost had me,” the Hunter admitted, voice warbling in a modulated chuckle. “Thanks, though. D, by the way.”

“River Valikai,” she responded, shaking his hand. “I’ll see you around, D.”

“See ya!” the other Hunter called as River turned and left.

* * *

  
Days or weeks went by, normal and boring. It was boring until the Cabal crashed into the Tower and tried to wipe out every last Guardian. And then with the Cabal came the Lightlessness; a cage locked around the Traveler and the wonderful strange fire in River’s bones left.

It wasn’t so much like a lightbulb snapping off as cold air leaking in slowly from an open window; the Light trickled out of her blood and bones, leaving a chill in its wake. The fire and flames were snuffed out, the Golden Gun burnt out, and all her strength failed. Clementine flickered and fell still on the ground, and River fell to her hands and knees, trying desperately to pull the Ghost against her.

She could see the Cabal swarming through the streets, their dogs snapping and snarling at the ends of heavy chains. Each carried a gun that likely weighed more than her, and was quite certainly bigger. Heaving with sobs, panic making her stumble, she fled, cloak shredding from fire and rebar that had once held her home.

The outskirts of the City would’ve been a wet dream given normal circumstances, but now the shadows held nothing but uncertainty and fear. She clutched at Clementine desperately, and kept running until the air felt like it was freezing her from the inside and her legs refused to support her weight.

_“Mama, I want to try karate,” the young girl said, big eyes pleading. “Please.”  
_

_The woman paused, then ruffled the girl’s hair. “If you promise to keep your room clean and keep your grades up, you can absolutely try karate.”  
_

_She smiled, white teeth flashing against lilac skin brilliantly.  
_

_Time shifted. She was twelve_ _and Papa decided she needed to learn her way around a knife.  
_

_Time shifted. She was fourteen and Mama decided she needed to learn her way around a gun.  
_

_Time shifted. She was eighteen; ten years of training had led to a black belt. A man, taller and heavier than her, tried to attack her in an alley. They had to take him to the hospital. Mama took her out for dinner. Papa’d been dead for three years but she told his grave and hoped he could hear._

Amanda Holliday found her and roused her from the nightmare or memory or mental breakdown. Clementine had woken up well before River had, and sent out an all-channels distress signal. Amanda got her onto the ship and let River weep into her shoulder as Clementine piloted.

* * *

  
Breath billowing out in little puffs, River rubbed her hands together. The stars twinkled merrily overhead but the light just felt too dim to make a dent in the all-consuming black. The midnight sky was clear as a bell; Heaven’s vaulted ceiling went on for what seemed like eternity. Snow covered the Farm, chilling everyone to the bone. It was as if the universe hadn’t taken enough from them, first the Light and now the precious little warmth.

Sterling slept nearby, comfortable in the ragged robes that had survived, swaddled in fur and wool and fleece. Hale had long since stepped out, a silent sentinel silhouetted by pale moonlight. She looked smaller, now, with her frame packed into normal clothes instead of her armor. Formerly her presence could rival all but Zavala, but suddenly she was just a normal person.

River had a sudden ache for home, both for her own and for the one that she had before she was a Guardian. Now, who was she? Who would she become if the Light never came back?

The thought made her shudder harder than the cold itself, but she continued forward, finding a spare piece of the railing to thread her limbs through. Hale blessedly let her be, heading back into the spot that the sisters had claimed as their own.

Minutes or hours passed as River sat there, only barely cold, still sleepy but not letting herself surrender. Then, someone sat next to her, tangled around the railing all the same. “Isn’t it cold?”

She hummed affirmatively, barely glancing at the Exo next to her. He was suited up, ready to go. Ready to leave and maybe to die. That twisted her guts a bit too hard. “Where are you headed, D?”

With a sort of smugness, the Hunter replied, “I’m gonna blow up the Almighty.”

“You’re a fucking idiot,” River said, staring up at the blackness above, at the jailed Traveller, then flicking her eyes over to the shadowed figure next to her.

She kicked at thin air. “Like I get it, you can do shit that no one else can, but stuff like this is what makes Guardians die their final death.”

“Didn’t ask for your approval or your permission or anything,” the other Hunter grumbled. “You’re not my mother.”

She sighed, resting her forehead against the cool railing, and only barely looked back at him. “At least show me the thing again before you go.”

In one hand, D produced flame; in the other, pure electricity. River smiled. Somewhere, something ate at her, but the smile never left.

Later, a ship blinked across the night sky and River raised a hand just slightly, despite the fact that no one could see her. Clem let out a synthetic chuckle. “I’ll let them know you waved.”

“Shut up,” she mumbled, face flushing fuschia, glad only Clementine and the stars were her witness.

The next morning brought patrols; they had one Guardian with Light, so some fireteams had to step up to assure the Farm stayed safe. Sterling had volunteered them, which Hale had vehemently disagreed with through screeching static. River had suited up, glad to be of use. In any case, she was getting antsy; her trigger finger was itching. Together, the three sisters stepped out of the Farm, guns loaded.

They’d made it halfway through the patrol before they stopped, resting for a few minutes in the shade. Hale tapped River’s shoulder, then gestured at Sterling’s rigid form; she looked ready to fight. Afraid yet determined. River patted Hale’s shoulder as she brushed past the Exo, beelining towards their sister. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she snapped, voice cool and sharp. “I’m fine.”

River crossed her arms. “Can we save the argument and just get to the whole ‘telling your sisters what’s wrong’ part?”

There was a long pause while Sterling fumed. But finally she relented. “I’m afraid. Dying used to be no big deal. We come back so fast, usually, but now…”

“One life, and when it’s over, it’s over,” River finished, and Hale nodded along with the words. “I mean, yeah. You’re right. But I trust you two not to let me die. Do you trust us?”

Sterling looked at them, then at her hands. Then, feeling no better, she nodded once and almost inaudibly murmured, “Yeah.”

That was enough; it had to be, because River knew she couldn’t promise anything more than what a team of three Lightless Guardians could offer. So they got up and moved on, the pointless chatter drifting into silence. They finished the patrol quickly and Sterling went to nap, sporting dark circles under her eyes. Stress had given them all insomnia. Sterling was less equipped to handle it, though.

She must’ve drifted off, because the next thing she saw was daylight. There was a commotion and, when she went outside, she saw it: an explosion next to the Sun, small but easily visible. A victory. Even Zavala was smiling as he glanced up at the sky.

* * *

  
River knew the risks of going out without her Light or her fireteam, but she’d bullied D into taking her with him on a mission, and together they’d infiltrated a Red Legion base. River steadily picked off targets with her rifle as D wove his way through the crowds of Legionaries and Phalanxes, the steadily-quieting clamor punctuated by the oddly soft reports of that strange hand cannon, Kindness.

A wave of reinforcements dropped ahead of, between, and behind them, essentially boxing in and separating the two Hunters with lines of eight hundred pound Cabal. No way out but through. River drew her sword, readying herself as guns trained on her. She’d kill at least a few, then maybe her death could distract the Cabal enough for D to leave.

Then, suddenly, it was all very bright; a mix of orange and blue light that blinded River and the Cabal for a brief second. When she could see again, she had to look twice, because in one hand D held an Arc Staff and in the other there was a Golden Gun, and the Cabal were suddenly distracted by the spectacle in front of them. Their decision to rush him instead of running went poorly; what didn’t fall to the Staff burnt up from the Gun. And there was no bravado, no showing off; D was silent, focused. Protective? Something that felt a little like Light crept into her chest.

They didn’t talk about it after it was over; D just offered her help getting up and they moved on. But later, at the Farm, she confronted him, catching her friend off-guard as she blocked his exit.

“Tell me who you are,” she demanded, arms crossed, backing the Exo against a figurative and literal wall simultaneously. “I know- well, I think I know- who you are. The gun, the arc and the flame.”

D stared back, blue eyes somehow looking exhausted. “Dunno what you’re talking about.”

“You’re Daniels. Everyone said you died during the whole SIVA thing.”

By the expression that flitted across his face, River knew she was right. She gave him a hard look; unwavering, unrelenting. D finally looked away. He lost the game of chicken; he had flinched. River softened. This was something that no one needed to know, not her or anyone. Gentle, this time, she reached out, one hand on his cheek, and tried to speak very carefully but firmly. “Tell me everything, Daniels. You know you can trust me.”

“Okay,” he mumbled. “Okay.”

* * *

  
River sniped like no other. Hawthorne knew her way around a scout rifle, but underneath River’s fire there was a deeper, magmatic hunger that only a high-caliber rifle could properly ease. That left her picking off Cabal as the Vanguard closed in on the City. Eight hundred pounds of meat and metal tumbled off the wall, one by one, nice and orderly.

She didn’t envy Hale and Sterling, risking life and limb inside the walls. Even when the Wall was secured, River would only move up top. But down below, her sisters fought. She hoped they would live; knew they would, deep down, but still hoped beyond hope.

They got the Vanguard to the rally point. The teleporter was set. Nothing to do but wait and wait for a victory that wasn’t guaranteed. Even with a victory, would the Guardians reclaim the Light? She didn’t know. River couldn’t imagine being Lightless forever. She couldn’t imagine who she might become. Then, eyeing Hawthorne, down on the ground with her falcon and the Guardians, the thought occurred to her that maybe being Lightless didn’t mean you couldn’t be a hero. She shot down a Cabal that had gotten too close to another Guardian.

Quietly, she murmured, “I am more than my Light.”

The snipers kept the Cabal’s ranks fairly sparse, enough that River was barely missed when Sterling and Hale called for help getting the Vanguard out of a bad situation. The mission had cost Cayde an arm and a leg, and both Ikora and Zavala looked like they’d seen better days. They got the Vanguard to safety on the Wall, 

* * *

  
Ghaul stood like a skyscraper, drenched in the Light, a god in his own right. All was lost. River sat on her knees, heart shattering in fifty different ways; all was lost, they had lost, he had lost.

And then the Traveller shattered, taking Ghaul with it as shards exploded across the dark sky, and with them came the wisps of Light, strong and pure. The Golden Gun came to her and six Cabal dropped around her, and the flames just kept burning until she extinguished them herself. Her Light burnt hotter and brighter than ever before, and for a moment, she was whole.

Days later, after Vanguard congratulations and celebration, up on the Wall, she found her favorite Hunter staring at the Traveler. She stood next to him, arms crossed on the railing, then slowly leaned her head on his shoulder. Daniels’s arm wrapped around her shoulders. River smiled.

Later, they, too, celebrated.

Light streamed through the slatted blinds, bathing River’s room in the soft yellowish glow of early sunlight. The too-small, too-firm mattress on the floor beckoned her to stay. Carefully, though, she extracted herself from her bedmate’s grasp. After the disturbance, Daniels was draped over on his stomach haphazardly, and River gave him a soft kiss and pulled up the blankets a bit more to fight the aching cold. Little Light peered up at her for a second, and she gave xem a delicate pat too.

The tequila-fueled headache gripping her temples and the aching chill demanded coffee and by the Traveller she was willing to indulge it. She grabbed his cloak, fastened it, and was ready. One more fond look from the doorway, and she went to go get them something warm.


	2. brakion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> strike time

_“And Guardian? Bring me its arm.”_ Asher requested. _“I wish to display it.”_

“Got it!” River replied cheerily, cutting off her mic as she added, “You old, miserable fuck.”

Sterling snorted loudly. “You’d better be thankful that you don’t have to deal with him more often.”

“We do, every day,” Hale replied with a little chuckle.

“I’d rather deal with Brakion a million times than Asher for one day,” River muttered.

The three of them descended into the first part of the Pyramidion. The Vex outside fell quickly, and soon they were descending. There were Taken deep down in that Light-forsaken place; interdimensional ghouls with a knack for being a pain in the ass. A routine Vex mission had turned Taken and none of the sisters liked it. They flocked like moths to flame at the barest trace of Light, and tried to wrench it from its source by any means necessary. For Guardians, it simply meant a haunting amount of deaths; an agonizing second of being ripped apart from the inside before the soft white Light of the Traveler worked its way through every atom in their body. Every Taken they killed felt like a catharsis, and soon they were at a vast pit.

“Asher, we’re looking at a huge pit,” Sterling reported. “There’s no lake, just some Goblins hanging out around the pit.”

Asher spluttered. _“There is no pit within the Pyramidion! You must be mistaken.”_

“Well there’s a pit right now,” River snapped. “Listen, the only way to go is down at this point, so we’re gonna take a look.”

_“You insufferable little wench-!”_

River shut off her communicator. “You guys ready?”

Hale didn’t reply; she simply leapt forward into the pit with a warbling yell. Sterling sighed. “Fuck me,” and then jumped as well, shrieking. River laughed and hopped in, one hand holding her hood in place.

“Asher,” Sterling’s voice echoed through the huge, empty space. “We’re at some kind of terminal with an enormous warp gate.”

 _“That, assistant, is the synthoneural terminus. You’re at Brakion’s doorstep.”_ Asher breathed. _“Kill it.”_

”With pleasure,” Hale replied darkly as she stepped onto the warp plate.

The Genesis Mind appeared with a deafening screech like some Lovecraftian monster. They stood strong, each tossing a grenade at the giant Vex. It was for naught; the thing simply teleported away, inside a triangular blue shield, roaring as it summoned dozens of its smaller brethren.

“Shit!” River rolled behind cover, and Hale dropped a shield for herself and Sterling. “You two okay?”

Sterling nodded. “Yes! I believe there are warp plates over there… We might be able to overload the shield.”

“On it,” said River, and she was off, mowing down Vex as she headed for the plate.

Four Vex plates, totaling in two shields, had to be disabled before Brakion was angry enough to engage them directly. That was its second mistake; the first had been the odd decision to leave warp plates lying around where a Guardian could mess with them. Its third mistake would be to focus on Sterling the second she decided to overload herself with Arc energy. The thing howled in pain and shot at her as she shocked it, and swatted at her like it would a bug. At the same time, Hale summoned her Void shield and River ignited her Golden Gun. They’d rehearsed the plan before, and River hoped beyond hope that Clementine was recording before Hale launched her off the shield. Brakion didn’t even turn until six slugs were buried in its head, but by that point River cling to it and had begun stabbing at various parts of its neck. Sterling darted towards Hale, and as Brakion started to collapse the Titan created a bubble of Void Light that shielded the two women from the immense robot.

River pulled herself from the broken chassis and gave a brief thumbs-up.

“That was so cool!” Sterling exclaimed, pulling her helmet off. “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Hale tucked her helm under her arm. “I’m surprised that worked. Did any of the Ghosts capture that?”

“Got it!” Clark, Hale’s Ghost, chimed in cheerily. “It was pretty cool.”

River grinned. “Hell, yeah, it was.”

* * *

 

Fireteam Trinity climbed up out of the Pyramidion, weary but running on an adrenaline high from their victory. As they approached Asher, Sterling’s Ghost materialized Brakion’s arm, which fell to the ground with a muted thump. Asher almost smiled. “An adequate performance, assistants.”

“An excellent performance,” Sterling corrected before River could. “You can say thank you now.”

Asher was quiet for a moment, then grudgingly added, “Thank you.”


	3. flutter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hale’s a lesbian. nomi’s beautiful.

“I like you,” she said, abrupt and stilted, as if her mouth could barely fathom those words. They felt like a gunshot, and the recoil hit immediately. “If you don’t feel that way, it’s fine. I know it’s a huge shot in the dark and I don’t mind-“

Then, a soft, warm feeling on her mouth. Oh, kissing as an Exo was a hollow thing at best, but kissing Nomi felt like flying regardless of the fact that she only had sensor readings to judge that it was soft and warm. It felt like she’d jumped off the Tower, but had grown wings instead of hitting a roof. It felt like missing a step on a flight of stairs, and simultaneously like the relief of finding her balance before she fell.

It was perfect.

So it took Hale a second to steady herself, to finally work up that odd half-smile only a robot could manage, and breathlessly reply, “That... was unexpected. But I’m good with it.”

“Go out with me,” Nomi said finally. “Seriously, let’s go get some ramen—from the City, not the bazaar—and some drinks. Maybe we can catch a movie. I dunno.”

Hale felt herself grinning. “Yeah, definitely. How’s tomorrow at eight? I’ll come pick you up.”

* * *

 

Hale-2 wasn’t a coward, but the amount of her body she was showing made her a bit queasy. Sterling had assured her she looked great, but that was her job; no, the real tell would be Nomi. The Warlock wore her heart on her sleeve, so Hale was quite sure she’d know if her date was lying about that. Maybe she wouldn’t have to, Hale hoped. Maybe Nomi really did like her.

Nomi looked great, Hale realized with a start as she headed towards her date. She was leaned up against the gate to her building, all long legs and short black dress and a halo of poufy black hair. Oh, she looked sinfully good, posed against the wrought iron gate as she gazed thoughtfully in Hale’s direction, specifically the strip of torso that Hale had fretted about showing. She wanted to run. This body was disgusting; a mockery of both machinery and organics. But she kept walking, the boots reporting sharp and loud on the concrete floor. She stood at attention in front of the smaller woman, nervous. “Hey.”

“You look stunning,” Nomi blurted out. “You don’t see a lot of Exos in crop tops. I like it.”

Nomi, with her long pale legs and her gap-toothed smile, calling her stunning? She had to be lying but Nomi’s face was open and honest. Hale offered a tight little smile, loosening her stance. “Thank you. You look beautiful, as always.”

They fell in against each other, arms linked as they headed for the elevators. They were fairly quiet, each basking in the other’s company as they plummeted towards the City. And they stayed that way the entire night, hanging almost obnoxiously off of each other as they moved between venues. They snuck kisses beneath the flickering neon lights of a dive bar; they held hands through every part of the date.

And after their ‘goodnight’s, on the way to her own apartment, Hale was quite sure that the flutter in her chest might never go out.


	4. osiris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sterling saves a space hobo/egomaniac/megalomaniac and the entire universe from a giant Vex mind and doesn't even get paid for it.

“Thirty eight percent gravity, you said?” Sterling mused, scuffing at the ground with the edge of her boot. “I’m really sad that they did the whole terraforming thing, now. That would’ve been fun.”

Yin flashed the data across the inside of Sterling’s helmet again. “Yeah, but now we’re sitting at just around Earth’s gravity. It’s hot, dry, and unfortunately not bouncy.”

The symbol for an incoming transmission came up, and Sterling activated the comm unit in her helmet. “This is Sterling.”

_ “Welcome to Mercury, Guardian. The signs told me you would come.” _

Sterling took in a long breath, and let it out as slow as she could. No point in getting angry this early on; it was going to be a long, long day.

* * *

Sagira was, by and large, her favorite person ever. The fact that she’d shell-jacked Yin was a little bit worrying, because Sterling didn’t even know that was  _ possible _ , but Sagira was sharp and smart in a way that left her floundering to keep up. But Sagira wasn’t loyal to her, and Sterling tried to keep that in mind despite the fact that now she absolutely  _ had _ to trust her life to the Ghost; Sagira was loyal to Osiris, and Ikora wanted to know about Osiris, so with two sets of orders, she headed into the Infinite Forest.

Vex gates were… not a pleasant way to travel. It felt like some old-timey comedy act, with a giant hook around her midsection, not yanking her through a curtain or off-stage but through time and space. This time, the destination was a giant Vex simulation, and it felt oddly normal to suddenly just be bits of data in some prediction engine. A bit tingly, though. When she’d finally just gotten used to the  _ idea _ of being fuzzy bits of data, the Reflections started showing up. Osiris was before her, glittering yellow-gold, fading in and out of existence as much as he pleased. There were five, maybe ten, of them at some point, and her finger tightened on her gun’s trigger, ready to pop someone’s head at a moment’s notice.

Of  _ course  _ Ikora had sent her off on a mission to find an egocentric megalomaniac, armed with a Ghost that was not hers and no backup into the heart of an infinite computer simulation. Just a normal day at the office.

At least he was smart. By the Light, Osiris was smart. He was good at manipulating the simulation, and even better at understanding it; easily, he sent her and Sagira through portals into increasingly strange places. First there was centuries-old pre-Vex Mercury, with its soft golden grass and vibrant water and tangled trees with rosy leaves, climbing and twining way up towards the brilliantly bright sky. And then, there was the Lighthouse, long-deserted, with a broken sun and a giant Vex mind; an almost-certain future if the Vex mind, Panoptes, survived their encounter. As they broke free of the simulation, Sterling couldn’t stop sprinting, legs shaking as she stumbled free from the simulation. She dove to her knees in the silky sand, and Ikora kept speaking through her comm unit. Sagira kept responding, but she couldn’t really pinpoint what the Ghost was saying. All Sterling could say, though Ikora did prompt her lightly, was, “I’m in  _ way _ over my head, here.”

* * *

Their trip to the Pyramidion was pretty fruitless, and led them right back into that damned Forest, which lead to killing a giant Cabal, which lead to Nessus. After killing something else that was much bigger and much tougher than her, Sterling brought Sagira to a conflux. And, true to the pattern so far, Sagira shorted out the processor  _ immediately _ . But at least Ikora was smarter than them, immediately chiming in with the idea that Panoptes’ code could help them locate it. And it worked. Panoptes, obviously scared, now, ripped Sagira from the shell, and kicked Sterling and a very hazy Yin out of the Forest, like an ex kicked out onto the street. Yin busily began snooping through the information in her memory banks. “Wait, hold on. You’ve been busy without me! You let a strange Ghost put herself inside my head and followed her through a giant Vex simulation. Who does that? At least I have some good data, I guess, but I can’t decrypt  _ any _ of it. We need Ikora.”

“Sorry,” Sterling offered sheepishly. “I didn’t know how to get you back, and I figured there’s no way she would’ve hurt you badly. She just wanted help. I know you’d have done the same thing to get back to me.”

“Oh, you’d bet I would. I’d break the universe apart to get back to you.”

She grinned lightly, and gently bumped her knuckles against the edge of Yin’s shell. “Same to you, little bud.”

* * *

The fight against Panoptes was hard, but having recently experienced battle while Lightless, where the guns felt heavier and she didn’t have any advantages like a healing rift or Light grenades or a gravity-defying jump, it wasn’t as hard as it might’ve been before. With Osiris’ help, there was no real way to lose, and so they killed Panoptes and got Sagira back. After a brief chat, Osiris headed back into the Forest, back to living like some kind of genius space hobo with all of simulated time and space to play with.

Back in their ship, Sterling slouched heavily into her seat, and checked her missed calls and messages. Five missed calls, twelve missed messages. Oh. She’d missed ramen Thursday. Sterling dropped her head back, letting out a loud groan. Stupid egomaniacs and their shell-jacking Ghost, and stupid Warlock Vanguard, and stupid  _ her _ most of all.

Helmet off, straightening up, she made an outgoing call to her sisters, who she barely let say anything before interrupting, “You won’t believe the day I just had. I just had to go save Ikora’s mentor, who’s a complete asshole and egomaniac, and the entire universe from a giant Vex mind and I’m pretty sure I didn’t even get paid for it.”


	5. warmind (i)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down in the deep dark, Xol readies for an attack on Clovis Bray. Three Guardians try to stop him.

It was just a routine mission.

The three of them had been headed out past Mars, not planning on investigating anything on the conflict-stricken planet, but then Yin had spotted Warsats falling out of the sky on her scans. That was… abnormal, to say the least. So Yin had plotted a landing course, two other ships falling in line behind her and Sterling’s. Breaching the atmosphere wasn’t particularly difficult; the only jarring moment was when the official Vanguard channel crackled to life, and sounds of static and screeching blasted through the comm system. Then a voice bled through, begging for backup.

“Guardian, this is a secure Vanguard channel,” Yin protested. “So whoever you are-”

“ _ That’s cute _ ,” said the Guardian, her voice clearly not amused. “ _ You have one of the uptight Ghosts. I wouldn’t be calling if this wasn’t urgent. The most dangerous weapon in the system is on this planet and the Hive are trying to destroy it _ .”

Sterling let out a sigh, but manually accepted the navigation info that the Guardian’s Ghost had sent. “I see the course. We’ll be there shortly.”

“I don’t like this,” Yin said, comfortably nestling back in the crook of her Guardian’s neck. “Not at all.”

Sterling delicately bumped her knuckles against the Ghost’s shell, and then started to set them down. As they jumped out of the ship into the freezing cold air of Mars, River had a distinctly peeved look on her face. “I hate the cold. This chick had better have a really good reason for setting us down here. I mean, there’s absolutely nothing but ice for a mile. Guardian, are you sure we’re in the right spot?”

“ _ Yeah, it’s the right spot. You’ve got to get to the old Clovis Bray facility, and this is the best spot I could find. It also gives you a preview of the new creeps running around out here. _ ”

“Great,” River breathed, then put her helmet on. It pressurized with a hiss, and left her voice semi-modulated like an Exo. “I hate Hive.”

“It’s because they look like bugs, I bet,” Hale responded, grinning as she, too, pulled her helm on. The lights flickered up pale purple. “Can’t say I love them.”

One more helmet, one more pressurized hiss, and Sterling’s Crown of Tempests sat firmly on her head. She pulled out her scout rifle and checked its ammo. “Okay, Guardian. We’re cocked, locked, and ready to rock. Let’s see these damned Hive.”

“ _ Just don’t get squished by any Warsats, _ ” the Guardian cautioned. “ _ They’re falling out of the sky, which can really only mean one thing- _ ”

“Rasputin,” Yin offered. “That’s impossible. Why would-?”

“ _ Nothing’s impossible where Rasputin’s concerned. Now come on. _ ”

These Hive were, surprisingly, one of the weirder things that any of the sisters had seen. Normal Hive shattered at death because of how hard their bodies were, but these guys shattered like glass. Or, more accurately, like ice. They were big, mean, and incredibly unique. Sterling was in quiet awe the entire time, hoping for a bit of one-on-one time with some samples she’d picked up. This trip could, if nothing else, lead to some breakthroughs in understanding evolution in the Hive. The whole “nothing else” part did, however, get bashed to pieces immediately upon exiting the cave system they had been fighting in. Outside, in the distance, there was a  _ giant _ worm. Stories tall, spiky, generally Hive-like, the worm reared up and then plunged back down, seemingly burrowing back down into the Martian landscape. The three stopped in their tracks. Hale was the first to speak, once the entire thing was gone. “Sterling. What the hell was that?”

“I… think that’s a worm god?” Sterling began. “They’re one of the highest ranking in Hive worship, if I remember correctly. They’re second only to the Darkness.”

“By the Light,” River said, hushed. “We need help. No way we can do this alone.”

The other Guardian cut in, then. “ _ You three still with me? _ ”

“Yeah,” Hale responded. “Where are we headed?”

“ _ We found a Golden Age research facility buried inside a glacier. Where do you think? Meet me at the entrance. _ ”

So they did, and their first view of the Guardian was after she killed a Hive knight that was running towards them. It fell with a screech and the Guardian grinned. “You did great. That was a lot of Hive.”

“It really was,” River said, with a slight shudder. “Still hate those things.”

“Well, fortunately for you, there’s probably hoards more of them behind that door. Think you can clear a path while I work on getting us into the facility?”

River stared at her, probably pretty blankly. “Do we have a choice?”

“Nope!”

As they were cutting through Hive and Cabal, Yin began talking. “Guardians have encountered Warminds before, but Ikora always said that Rasputin was trapped on Earth.”

“ _ Rasputin can operate across multiple systems simultaneously. _ ”

Clementine let out a little modulated chuckle. “So… all those times the Vanguard were trying to talk to him on the Cosmodrome were for nothing, huh?”

“ _ Yeah, pretty much _ ,” the Guardian agreed. “ _ There were fragments on Earth from the Collapse, but his core was always here on Mars. _ ”

Finally, with everything clear, the Guardian transmatted in, hurriedly typing away at a console. “The main access is encrypted, but I know a couple of tricks. At least that seems to have run in the family.”

Then they were all systems go, with the lights coming up and a sort of concierge AI starting announcements. Apparently the Guardian was Dr. Anastasia Bray, which immediately led to River saying, “Wait a hot minute. You’re Ana Bray, hero of Twilight Gap?”

“Unless there’s another Ana Bray,” the Guardian, Ana, replied chipperly. “Enough about me. I need you guys to go check out the core, which means more Hive. You’re up for that, right?”

They ended up at the core fairly quickly, thanks to the Valkyrie, a weapon that Rasputin provided after some prodding from Ana. And then, like some scene out of an old horror movie, they opened the doors to Rasputin’s core, and there was Zavala. The three milled around awkwardly while Zavala and Ana had it out, and Hale wanted to be  _ anywhere else _ because she knew she’d be dealing with remarks from Zavala about an unsanctioned mission for ages. At least they were interrupted by some hardcore, Mars-shaking rumbling. Any of the three sisters figured they’d rather deal with an oversized Hive worm than this awkward argument any day.


	6. warmind (ii)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they kill a god.

They needed power to draw out Xol. Worm gods fed on power, and what was more powerful than a shard of the Traveller? There was a splinter out in the EDZ, so the three headed there to go find some worm bait. The Taken had beaten them there, shielding the shard to try and protect it and keep it for themselves, but a well-aimed Warsat blast and some elbow grease netted them a hefty chunk of Traveller, practically dripping with Light, leaving a kind of static on everything it touched.

Back on Mars, they just had to get to a feeding ground. It wasn’t that bad of a journey down into the depths of the planet; there were a lot of Hive, but most of them weren’t a huge challenge. There was a giant Ogre, but it was too big and clumsy to do much, so they just kept dodging, got its shields down, and popped it like a stinky, icy grape. It was all fairly normal, until the comms cut off just before they found the feeding ground. Anxiety panged in River’s stomach.

“Nowhere to go but down,” she said, and her two sisters nodded their agreement.

So, down they went.

A bunch of knights were kneeling around a central circle, and the fireteam felled them quickly. This brought out a giant wizard, at least four times any of their height and brimming with Dark energy. It could’ve, and by all rights should’ve, crushed them, but they took him down fairly easily too. The only issue were the insurmountable amounts of Hive he kept summoning. They crawled out of the stinking, soft, wet ground and walls, shrieking and clawing for any bit of Guardian they could get at. None of them died, though, which felt like a miracle after that amount of enemies.

And then came Xol.

They placed the fragment of the Traveller down, almost like an offering, and Xol came to them, his Darkness suffocating and crushing them as the cavern began to shake and crumble around them. “There is no Light here. You are alone here. You shall drift.”

And they were; each of the three could feel it, all sensations turning into black-and-red, shaking, ozone. Even their Ghosts, frantically talking, had a hard time rousing any of the three from the psychic assault Xol was putting them through. And as the ceiling began to collapse, giant hunks of rock raining down onto the fireteam, Xol said, “You shall drown in the Deep.”

River looked up, saw a giant chunk of ceiling careening down towards her, and saw nothing more.

She woke up to a worried, “River? Where are you? River?”

Gasping inside her helmet, she shoved her way upwards through the rock and snow, ignoring the screaming pain. Clementine healed her even as her ascent tore at her muscles. She ended up in a heap of Guardian, panting heavily as Sterling set down a rift to ease her aching body. “Oh, thank the Light. You had a huge chunk of ceiling crush you.”

“Yeah, kind of realized that,” she groaned, rolling up to a seated position. “That was rough. Really rough.”

Ana cut in, then. “ _ Xol is heading directly for the Clovis Bray facility, and Rasputin. If Rasputin dies, the javelin goes with him. Xol wins. _ ”

“ _ Very well _ ,” Zavala also cut in. “ _ My reservations about the Warmind aren’t as important as defeating Xol. We do this together. What do you say, Guardians? _ ”

Hale, glancing at her sisters and their three Ghosts, nodded once. “It’s about time. Let’s kill ourselves a worm god.”

* * *

 

Back home, only four people really knew what was going on down on Mars. Zavala, obviously, knew, which meant both Ikora and Cayde knew, which meant Daniels managed to squeeze information out of the Vanguard that he technically wasn’t supposed to have. But his girls were out there, ripping through Hive, so no one really minded that he wanted to play the waiting game there with the Vanguard.

Daniels had killed gods and enemies that no one could have imagined before. He and his team had killed Crota and Oryx and Atheon, and had stopped the SIVA crisis and Aksis. His girls, Fireteam Trinity, weren’t exactly wet behind the ears, either. His fireteam and theirs had ventured in to kill Calus together, tearing through the Leviathan twice, now, to try and clear out the threats within. But still, he worried. Calus and Argos, though powerful, were not gods. They were just powerful creatures seeking new power. But Xol? This was a Hive god, second only to the Darkness in their twisted pantheon. So he called River, knowing that she had to be trudging through ice and snow, her feet frozen in her boots. He knew when she got home, she’d stick them against the soft bits of his legs, where he had more neuroreceptors, later, just to send a shock of cold through his body.

“ _ Hey _ ,” she answered, not cheerily but not shortly towards him. Fond but annoyed. “ _ Did you bully the Vanguard into telling you where we are? _ ”

“As much as I could,” he replied. “Don’t die out there.”

She snorted loudly, and the noise was punctuated by gunfire. “ _ I don’t plan on it, but our whole job description is to die for humanity, I guess. So we’ll see how that goes. _ ”

He smiled at her, even though she couldn’t see him. “Seriously. Be careful. I know how this whole god-killing thing goes. It’s gonna be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.”

“ _ Probably, _ ” River agreed. “ _ Don’t come down here and try to single-handedly fix this if we do manage to die. Just stay put unless the Vanguard tells you otherwise. _ ”

“As if,” he snorted, and they lapsed into quiet that kept getting interrupted by gunshots. “I’ll let you go. Be careful.”

“ _ Probably _ ,” she said again, this time with an evident grin in her voice, and then she was gone.

All that was left was the quiet memory of her laughter, and the image of her flushed, shooting down Hive like a madwoman, back to back with one of her sisters. He held onto that image, one small flickering candle of hope in the face of that extreme Darkness.

* * *

 

As the worm god stood above them, the three sisters realized what it would take to kill a god. To compare Nokris to Xol would be to compare a house-cat to a lion. It made one feel so small, so fragile, to stand in front of a dark god like Xol. Was it courage or stupidity that drove the three to take up arms; to say no more?

When the Light clinging to them depleted, the Dark down here would take them. Staring at the giant body of Xol, coiled to strike, River felt no fear. No panic clutched her chest, no strange nails trailed up her back. Ana was saying something to her about their team holding out as best as they could until Rasputin sent a Valkyrie in. It all faded to a buzz and, slowly, she raised her rifle, a solid piece of tech that she loved so much. It felt heavier than usual, and the metal was ice cold even through her thick gloves. Xol screamed, a million knives scraping down a chalkboard.

Three voices as one screamed back.

No more.

* * *

 

“We haven’t heard from them in an hour,” Ikora said, quiet and uncertain. “I understand that this isn’t sanctioned activity, but-"

Zavala was quick to cut her off: “We cannot save them from this, not without risking countless lives. Trinity has put their faith in Ana Bray. We can only hope they return safely.”   
In the corner, Daniels wished he had fingernails or skin to actively gnaw at. Pangs of fear took fractal paths across the space where his stomach once lived.

Just a routine mission, River had said. Sterling was going to keep her out of trouble, she had assured him. They’d be fine. But now, there was no contact. Somewhere on Mars, a Hive god was staring down that part of his ragtag family. And they were not god killers, not like him, not hardened from battles that still danced in his mind when he slept. Now, even awake, he could see River’s face, inches from his, eyes glassy and skin cold, grayish instead of soft lavender. Or he could see her return, broken like Eris, her Light ripped out of her. Her eyes would be dark and dead, her voice monotone, her hands brokenly holding her dead Ghost, unwilling to let go.

Little Light, hovering over his shoulder, kept attempting to contact any of Trinity’s Ghosts.

No response.

* * *

Who killed Xol was a mystery to the team. But they were all exhausted, and sat huddled against a console, helmets cast aside as they wrapped their arms around each other. Hale sat in the middle, arms protectively around both her sisters as they all silently curled into each other. Ash or dry carcass floated through the air, like macabre dust motes in the sun, and the Light slowly seeped back into their aching bones.

They’d had so little Light left among them that River’s Gun had almost failed to ignite in her hands, and Hale’s shield had faltered enough that they were learning not to trust it. Even Sterling’s healing rift seemed to do the bare minimum, barely helping any of them.

Five minutes passed, or ten, or an hour, before they found themselves standing. And then, nonchalantly, as if they were just going to get ramen on the Tower, the trio strolled back through the building.

All was quiet; all was still.


	7. scorned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cayde-6 and his band of merry men lock up the Scorned Barons.

The damned dust. He hated the damn dust; he’d be picking sand and dust out of his joints for ages, even with the armor completely covering his body. Of course the Barons had run to Mars. He hated Mars almost as much as the dust, especially with the Red War lingering like a bad taste in the back of his mouth. The Cabal here made his stomach twist, because anymore all they made him think of was Lightless Guardians and Ghosts being slaughtered, and of his own helplessness in the beginning, where his Light failed him for the first and hopefully only time.

He glanced down the scope of his gun again, and said, “I’m seeing guards, but it’s not as heavy as you’d think. Plenty of good sightlines for snipers, so we should keep an eye out for that. Probably’ll end up ambushed when we get down there.”

Petra, squatting next to him on the soft sand, was also looking down the sight of her scout rifle. She nodded along with his words. “We should take out what we can from afar before we engage.”

“Nah,” Daniels disagreed, still looking at the ground troops. “We need to push in with a full-frontal assault along with the snipers. We can’t rely on outsniping the Rifleman, and we need to get this done quickly before they get away again.”

She sighed, but relented. “I see your point. If the Barons slip away from us again, we may not find them again and, if we do, they’ll have had much more time to prepare than this.”

“It’s now or never,” the Hunter said, standing, his gaze still on the encampment as he began to turn away. After a brief moment, he made his way down the dune, skidding on the steep slope, and finally came face-to-face with Cayde.

The Hunter Vanguard, who had been quietly conversing with his Ghost, gave him an expectant look. Daniels relayed the information. “We’re gonna try and get this done quick because we can’t afford for them to slip away. A couple of snipers and a ground team, and we should be able to handle it.”

“I like it,” Cayde said, immediately. He shifted his weight, hand resting on his hip, just above the Ace’s holster. “How bad’s the guard?”

“Not as bad as we thought,” Petra added, somehow making her awkward skid down the hill look dignified. “We should be able to handle it very easily. There are the ‘best of the best’, aren’t they?”

Cayde gave her a side-eye, but Daniels noticed he didn’t meet her eyes. “PV! Nice of you to join us. Done lollygagging? Ready to go?”

She didn’t reply, just huffed and sauntered over to the small group of Guardians a few paces away, all of whom were vainly trying to keep the sand out of their guns. Cayde grinned, dusting his hands off. “This is gonna be great. I don’t know why she’s being such a buzzkill. Is it just an Awoken thing? Is River like that?”

He shrugged. “She’s as big of an idiot as I am, most of the time.”

Cayde chuckled, then patted the younger Hunter’s shoulder. “Ah, to be young and in love. It’s a good feeling, huh?”

He rolled his eyes and swatted the hand away. “We gotta move, man. You can gossip all you want when we get home.”

The pair returned to their raiding party; Petra Venj, Marcus Ren, Fia, and Garrus were all standing around, quietly conversing. They all glanced up, ready to kick some ass. Their motley group had been all the way across the solar system within a week, spending very little time on self care, and he knew that everyone was just as exhausted as he was. He just wanted to go home at this point. Cayde clapped his hands, obviously on the same train of thought: tired of all of the bullshit, and ready to go home. “So! Team! Squad! Fam, if you will. It’s time to end this. I’ll be honest with you, this isn’t gonna be the greatest experience, but hopefully it’s the last time these jackasses cause us trouble. I want Petra and Marcus to cover our ground team. Believe it or not, that ground team’s gonna be Fia, Garrus, Daniels, and myself. We’re gonna work together and clear out the outside force, then regroup to get at the nest of creepy crawlies.”

“I’m sniping?” Marcus asked, crossing his arms. “Are you shitting me?”

“You’re a great shot, Marcus.” Cayde shrugged, then gestured at Daniels. “You can’t tell me you don’t want him on the ground team. We need Fia for support, Garrus for his big, masculine muscles, and me for my big, masculine brain.”

Marcus snorted, obviously still a bit offended at the orders, but not willing to question them again. Cayde was, obviously, dead set on positioning. Petra sighed. “So if no one dies, we go into the cave system. Then what?”

“Make some arrests,” Cayde retorted, no small amount of cheek in his tone.

Petra took a step towards him, a hand on her hip. “What’s the plan behind that?”

Cayde sighed. “The plan is that they come with us or they die. We’ve got Variks in the sky with a pretty little transport ship and enough ammunition to turn ‘em into Swiss cheese. Their choice which one they want.”

Petra frowned, but said no more, simply began walking back towards the high ground with Marcus in tow behind her. Garrus hefted his machine gun, and Daniels could imagine the wicked smile spreading across his face. “I’m ready to tear shit up.”

“I’m sure you are,” Daniels agreed, chuckling, as the ground team also began heading for their position.

The Scorn saw them coming, but that didn’t matter. As soon as they were within range, it was over; nothing could save the Scorn from a Light-powered onslaught. They moved in close, and when the second line of Scorn came up behind them, shaking off camouflage and a layer of sand, it took only minutes to wipe out the group. Bodies littered the desert planet, tainted ether soaking into the red ground. It only took a few more minutes after that for the battlefield to fall still, the only movement being the ground team’s. They inspected the area, found it secure, and Cayde waved a hand at the snipers. “Party’s over. Thanks for the support.”

Petra raised a hand, and Daniels was versed enough in ‘pissed off sniper’ to recognize a middle finger from that many meters away. Cayde either didn’t recognize it, or simply refused to dignify the gesture. Guns still ready, they waited for the two snipers, and once Marcus and Petra rejoined the fray, they were off. Ever competitive, Petra got the first kill, her eyes flashing violet as she flicked her knife into a Scorn’s throat. She never even looked at it, simply reached out and ripped the knife back out, wiping the gore on her leg. Daniels spared a glance at Cayde, who grimaced at the Awoken woman’s telepathic knife skills.

“Quiet through here,” Fia said, suddenly. Her voice was barely a whisper, afraid it would carry through the tunnels. “I know there’s something coming up.”

Fia, as weird as ever, was correct; they followed the tunnel around a bend, where a group of Scorn were wrestling with what looked like a chain gang of three giant, ogre-like creatures they’d dubbed Abominations. Garrus raised his gun, hand moving to summon a barrier, but Daniels cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. Instead, Daniels lifted Kindness, levelled it, and fired once. The slug hit the chain, and for a brief moment, there was tense silence as the Scorn whipped around to stare at the intruders. Then the bullet detonated, melting the chain and freeing one Abomination from the rest. It roared, grabbed the nearest Scorn, and began bashing it against the other Scorn like a living baseball bat.

“Holy shit,” Cayde breathed, as the Scorn turned to control the beast.

Garrus nodded. “Now we fire?”

“Now we fire, bud,” Daniels agreed, and together they rained hell down on the group of Scorn.

Corrupted ether tainted the air as they chewed through the group, stinking like ozone and decomposition’s illegitimate love child. An alarm sang somewhere, alerting those deeper inside to the sound of gunshots. They were in, but the Scorn had warning. The fireteam pushed on as soon as the last Scorn hit the ground. That was the story through most of the tunnels; occasionally they’d run into a group of Scorn, but they’d chew threw their ranks within minutes. These Scorn, though powerful and without any self-preservation instincts, were no match for some of the best Guardians that the Vanguard had to offer. Even among Guardians they were elite, so the Scorn were ripped to shreds like tissue paper.

The Barons, though, were different. Under Fikrul’s command they’d grown even more powerful than when they were separate. He’d nurtured them, in a sense, from an assortment of troublemakers to a merciless group of villains. They’d killed numerous Guardians and even more civilians, and had wreaked havoc from one end of the system to another, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake.

It ended here.

They found the final chamber empty; it was a lofty cave, its roof obviously just below the surface of the planet. Four supporting pillars of gnarled rock climbed to the ceiling, obviously a product of careful design. The room was also ringed with two levels of rock just above and below the entrance that jutted out like thin balconies. Down below them, the rough steps transitioned into the floor, littered with sand and metal scrap and fire barrels, with various workstations surrounding machinery and broken-down old weaponry.

As they watched, the fireteam saw movement. They raised their guns, almost in unison, before each realized what was happening. The balconies began to fill, Scorn slowly filing out to observe the intruders. They had weapons, but weren’t using them, simply fixing their beady eyes on the raiding party. “What the hell is going on?” Daniels breathed, unsure why he was afraid to raise his voice beyond a whisper.

“A long time ago on Earth, there was a big old arena called the Colosseum. Gladiators used to fight to the death. Some of ‘em, if they were unlucky enough, got mauled to death by wild animals,” Cayde said, long-winded as always. “Anyway, to make a long story shorter, I think we’re gladiators.”

Petra readied her gun. “We’ll kill anything they throw at us.”

“I like the way you think,” agreed Garrus, though Fia sighed delicately at him.

“Lightbearers!” the hiss interrupted them. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, without an obvious origin. Corrupted ether, however, began to swirl and form into a mass in the middle of the cave. They readied their guns as the ether coalesced into a form. A lone hooded figure stood in the middle of the four pillars, its arms outstretched as if welcoming the group forward. “Here to kill us! Mercy!”

The figure, obviously Araskes with her hood and rifle, let out a grating cackle. She lowered all of her arms except the lower right, beckoning them forward. With nowhere else to go except backwards, they advanced down the short flight of stairs, cautiously approaching the figure. She bared her needle-sharp teeth in something like a grin as they approached. “Here for revenge? Here to kill the Barons? We would like to see you try.”

“We?” asked Cayde, a bit cocky and a bit prying for information. “Sorry, good-lookin’, I only see one of you. I was lookin’ forward to seeing all of you.”

“It gets its wish,” Araskes sing-songed, that wicked grin still on her horrifying face. She raised her arms up again, and the corrupted ether began to form again, five spots all around her. “Be careful what you wish for, Lightbearer.”

She turned to smoke as the other spots coalesced, and there were some of the Barons, dizzyingly tall and horrifying, stinking of that corrupted ether. All at once, they were moving, and the Barons were firing.

Garrus dropped a shield, and they covered behind that and the two pillars closest to them. Scorn began to flood the makeshift arena from two tunnels on the far end and from the balconies, more than they could’ve ever predicted, hoping to overwhelm the group enough for the Barons to crush them. As soon as they were in cover, Araskes popped up behind them, cackling as she dropped mines and fled again. Garrus dealt with them as the others began to try and thin the herd. It became obvious after a couple of clips that there were too many Scorn; they’d have to take down the Barons even under heavy fire. Daniels ducked out of cover behind the pillar to take refuge behind Garrus’s shield, and immediately fell.

“Sniper, fuck!” Fia shouted, grabbing the fallen Exo’s armor and dragging him behind the shield. She put her own body in front of Little Light as she resurrected her Guardian, and continued, “Marcus! Petra! One of you  _ deal with her! _ ”

“Got it!” they both agreed, and both began blind firing where the shot had rang out from.

Daniels got up, shaking his head, and helped, sending explosive solar slugs into the makeshift stands. Pirrha, the Rifleman, caterwauled as the slug exploded his rifle and injured one set of his hands. As he recoiled, both Marcus and Petra’s shots rang true, and injured his other two arms and torso, sending the sniper over the edge and down into the writhing mass of Scorn below. It was a hollow victory, though, as Arakses popped back up. She scattered her mines but Cayde was quicker than her, shattering the Trickster’s knee with a revolver. She wailed loudly, fumbling back into smoke with a burst of mines. Yet again, they cleared the mines. Through the smoke came Yaviks, riding a Pike through the mess as she corralled the Scorn towards the fireteam. She was easy to take down; a clip from Marcus’s rifle exploded her pike and sent her careening into a wall, where her scream cut off sharply. With their more pressing threats down, Cayde called the target. “Big guy with the mace!”

There was the Hangman, shoving through the crowd of Scorn, trampling them as he raged forward. His flaming mace caught on one of the towers and sent a huge chunk flying, wiping out yet more of the Scorn. It wept flame, or perhaps molten metal, and as he whipped the giant weapon to swing it, they opened fire on him. He recoiled, protecting his face, and Garrus charged forward, asskicking sword at the ready. He lept and shattered the chain, and sent the head of the mace to the ground. And from there, he landed and reversed directions, sliding under Reksis Vahn to shred the back of his knee. The Hangman went down, and over him came Kaniks, the Mad Bomber, and Elykris, the Machinist, cutting the Titan off from the group. Almost like an afterthought, Elykris shoved him with her gun and then eviscerated him with the ether fumes. Then she crouched and let loose the rockets on her back, and Kaniks used them as cover to rush forward.

“Move!” Petra shouted, shoving Cayde and Marcus to the side.

Daniels shoved Fia, and they got out of the way just in time for a hail of bombs and missiles to hit where the five of them had been in cover. They were out in the open, now, but two of the four Barons had to recover from their attacks. The Scorn were lulling, their numbers very thin, but Hiraks, the Mindbender, raised his arms and an unholy chorus of screeching pierced the air. Thrall came running in from the same two tunnels that the Scorn had come in, followed by a Wizard and a Knight in each tunnel. Hiraks cackled, babbling in glee as the Hive rushed them. Kaniks and Elykris were beginning to stand, so Fia lept up, flaming sword materializing as she began to hover, dishing out flaming projectiles. Cayde used his Golden Gun, trying to bring at least one of the Barons down.

It worked; Hiraks seemed beyond angry at his Hive’s deaths, and began to try and fire on Fia. She was quick, weaving in between the four pillars as she rained fire on him, and Cayde took the opportunity to fan six shots into the Mindbender’s chest. He went down in a heap, bringing the off-balance Elykris down with him. When her sword faded, Fia dropped a healing rift of light on the ground and helped Garrus’s Ghost, Scanlan, to raise him. They were a full fireteam again, and with the momentary lull, they dove forwards towards Kaniks and Fikrul, the Fanatic, who had been observing his fellow Barons for the entire fight. His face was impassive, unreadable.

Kaniks put up a fight, but ultimately was overwhelmed, especially when Petra hit a shot that set off the bandolier of grenades around his chest. And then they were onto Fikrul. He was a coward, through and through, simply vanishing to smoke as he watched the last of his Barons fall. From there, it was just a matter of clearing out the remaining Hive and Scorn.

As hard as the fight was, it was almost harder to restrain the enormous Barons, some of which had ten feet on even Garrus. Variks came down to help when the coast was clear, more quiet than usual as he helped put shackles on the Barons, each in different states of injury, some closer to death than others. Each was transported up to Variks’ transport vessel and settled in cryopods that they would likely never leave again.

When the coast was finally clear and Variks was on the way to the Prison of Elders, the team rejoiced with high fives, hugs, and kind words about each other’s aim. A week of fighting had led up to the encounter, and it felt so sweet to be able to leave, go home, not think about at least most of the Barons again. Hopefully, Fikrul the coward would lay low with his tail between his legs so that the system could rebuild, and the fireteam could rest. Even with the victory, Cayde and Petra both stood to the side conversing quietly and urgently. Daniels moseyed over, trying to hear their conversation, but they cut off as soon as they saw him drifting closer. Another mystery for another day, he decided, exhausted. Cayde patted him on the shoulder as he split off from Petra. “Good work, bud. We should do this again sometime.”

“We should absolutely not,” Daniels replied, chuckling, and then Cayde was gone, probably going home.

It was a good idea, now that he thought of it. He hugged Fia and then Garrus, offered a wave to Marcus and Petra, and then he was gone.


	8. last gasp of summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're about to begin our descent into the dark depths of Forsaken, so enjoy an obligatory beach episode before we find ourselves in that emotional hell.

Normally as summer wound down, River’s favorite haunt was the bazaar. Recently it’d been overrun by a million and one Guardians vying for the mysterious Drifter’s attention, trying to claim bounties and guns and shells and pieces of armor. He left a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, and River steered clear of him and of the crowds flocking to him. Because the bazaar was out of commission until the excitement died down, she had to find a new haunt, somewhere to mourn the waning summertime.

The air was beginning to cool slightly and there was a buzz around the Tower, talk of pumpkin spice everything and sweater weather. River liked autumn as much as anybody, sure, but summer was where it was at. She hated the cold, preferring instead the sun-and-fun of the summer. So, as summer began to die, River decided she ought to enjoy it for once, giving her favorite season a final gasp before it faded to winter. It didn’t take much to convince any of her extended friend circle (her family, really) to tag along, so they packed their ships with towels and umbrellas and were off. River had heard from Devrim, who’d heard from one of his scouts, who’d heard from Traveler knows who, that there was an island off the east coast of Old Spain that wasn’t quite overrun with anything. There were no resources left for the Fallen to take and the Cabal had no tactical reason to be there. So unless some new, unknown bad guy was lurking, they should, theoretically, have the entire place to themselves.

It wasn’t the most beautiful place in the world, at least not after the Collapse had ruined everything, but it would do the trick; there was sand and hot sun and decent-looking water for miles, with not a single hostile life-form for miles and miles, just birds and bugs and the occasional tiny crab that peeked out at them.

“I can’t tell if this is sunburn or some other kind of radiation burn,” Sterling remarked, lifting her sunglasses as she glanced down at her exposed belly. “Seriously, no idea, and I’m a bit too buzzed to care.”

She punctuated that with a sip of her piña colada, and River giggled as her sister settled back down against the beach chair. A few feet away, Daniels and Hale sat under a makeshift canopy of rainbow beach umbrellas, building a very intricate sand castle out of some very uncooperative sand. River sat up enough to take a drink of her whiskey and, almost as an afterthought, took a picture of the scene. Daniels turned at the shutter noise, eyes narrowed, and she giggled again, waving the device at him. He sighed and returned to the castle; Hale never looked up.

“Should’ve brought your  _ boyfriend _ to put some sunblock on you,” Nomi crooned, peering over her own sunglasses at Sterling. “What’s his name again?”

Sterling shushed her loudly, face flushing brighter than River’d ever seen it, and Nomi laughed as she rolled over onto her stomach, exposing her back to the sun to give her slightly-ruddy chest a break. River squinted at the sun, and then sighed when she saw it was sinking dangerously close to the horizon. They’d planned on staying out until sunset, and thankfully it looked like their day hd gone without a hitch. The sky began slowly fading pale orange at the horizon as the sun dipped lower. She smiled slightly, imagining the colors; hopefully it would light the clouds in a million beautiful colors. River lowered herself back onto the towel and let herself drift into a pseudo-nap, lulled by the quiet noise of the ocean hitting the shore. It only took a few minutes for another interruption; her communicator chirped the tone signifying a Vanguard communication. All of the Guardians groaned, and River answered the call with a quick shush. “Hello, Zavala. How can I help you on this beautiful, sunny day?”

_ “It’s raining,” _ the Titan responded flatly, and she could hear a brief sigh.  _ “I can see where you are. It’s not cleared for Vanguard activity.” _

River snorted, sitting upright. “It’s a beach, Zavala. You gonna court-martial us for suntanning?”

_ “No,” _ admitted Zavala after a brief pause, his normally-serious voice toeing the line between an audible smile and deadpan.  _ “I am not.” _

And River grinned a wide, shit-eating grin as she said, coyly, “Feel free to come check the place out. I know you three could use some time away from the kids. A date night, if you will.”

Zavala hung up on her, and the group devolved into side-splitting laughter amongst themselves. Daniels broke out of it first, pointing out through quieter chuckles, “He’s gonna fuck you over with paperwork.”

“Oh, but it’ll be so worth it,” River said, shaking off the laughing fit. The sun was beginning to set now as seconds ticked by into minutes. The sky deepened, and the bottoms of the clouds began to glow cotton candy pink. She raised an arm, pointing out the colors. “Look! Look, it’s starting.”

Five as one, they adjusted to see the sunset. It painted the sky first lilac and coral as it touched the clouds, and then a deeper auburn and gold combination as the sun’s final rays dipped below the water. The feathery clouds lended the illusion of brush strokes, casting the whole thing in a dreamlike light, as if they’d stepped into a painting straight from a museum’s walls. The sounds of the surf made the whole thing idyllic, almost hypnotizingly serene as they watched the red and orange fade darker and darker. And then it was over, the wild colors dulled as night encroached. Soon, the moon and stars would take their place in the faintly-clouded sky, casting the world in silver like much like the sunlight had cast it in gold.

“Wow,” said Sterling, finally, her voice breathless. “You never get views like that on the Tower.”

Hale nodded slowly, agreeing, “No, you definitely don’t.”

“Autumn starts soon,” Nomi pointed out, sighing as she dropped back onto the chair. “I need to prepare for Mabon. And it’s going to get chilly soon. We should think about going.”

Hale stretched out lazily but agreed, and soon the two were leaving with their things. Sterling followed quickly after, dropping a kiss to the top of her sister’s head before she dematerialized with her own things, off to stay up far too late reading dusty old texts from a million years before.

River picked herself up and settled next to Daniels on the beach, goosebumps threatening to nip her skin as the sky grew darker and the breeze turned cool. It was quiet, save for the breeze and waves lapping the shore. She laid her head on his shoulder and he took her hand, resting them in her lap. She could fall asleep just like that, dreaming of living paintings and warm white sand, but they couldn’t; they had duties just like everyone else.

So after allowing themselves a few minutes of peace, Daniels stood first, pulling River to her feet. They packed their things and left a last, loving goodbye to the stretch of beach that had been their safe harbor, their final taste of summer.


End file.
